Introducing: Esmé Patterson

April 12, 2014

Colorado’s Esmé Patterson has a new EP out on Tuesday: Woman to Woman, seven responses to famous love songs that were written from the perspective of men. “A lot of women immortalized in songs might tell a different side of the story if anyone ever asked,” she says, and I agree. As a concept for a record, that’s a fine start, yielding even better results upon execution. “Valentine” says “you’re just breaking your own heart” to the guy behind Elvis Costello’s “Alison” (which EC himself endorsed “with Love and Squalor” after the tune debuted), while “The Glow” flips the coin on Brian Wilson’s “Caroline, No,” “Never Chase a Man” warns Dolly Parton classic “Jolene,” and “Tumbleweed” provides the set’s initial impulse as a reaction to Townes Van Zandt’s “Loretta.” Even without the backstory, Patterson’s songs cut through with a genre-hopping point of view to boot. Hear four of them below: